Old Town School – On The Road

Dispatches from the road from our wayfaring travelers.

have i mentioned yet how nice eveyone is here in brazil?

and how delightful it is here? and how good the food and weather

are?

let me work backwards from this moment, where i am typing

on a filthy keyboard and barely moving cursor in the hotel

ahem “business office“.

we walked back from the party, myself and andrea, up and down

the hills and darkened and desolate streets. for some reason, no one

at all parks their car on the streets at night. the sidewalks are broken,

ragged and uneven, and if you are wheelchair bound, do not make this

your vacation destination. besides the steep hills and our friend gravity,

there are sheer unexpected dropoffs everywhere. wherever there is a

driveway or corner, there is a steep plunge, a foot or two sometimes,

to the next section of sidewalk. did i say sidewalk? it is almost as if

each building has built its own sidewalk….cement, tile, brick, small stones,

dirt, patterns, crumbling pits, a patchwork.

so it´´s midnight, the streets are

empty and dirty, and we are walking. we actually get a little lost on

the way home, ending up on two spooky quiet streets ´we´´d never seen before.

bats were flying around the streetlights. not a soul driving. all houses

behind iron fences and gates, some yards surrounded by thick clear glass

fences, showcasing the yard like an aquarium, making sure you see but don´t

touch. electric wire or glass on the top. so much security here, neighborhood

stores with guards, malls with 3 or more security guards at each entrance and

more patrolling, in black suits like the secet service.

all that to say; for some reason, it seems not all that scary. any US city and

these streets would be certain death, but here, it seems alright. when we were

lost, on a particularly desolate and dark street of stone, the was a man standing

at the end f the street, in the middle of the T intersection, dark clothing and

sunglasses. andrea said he might have been the bat we saw earlier, but he was

a dark man who said nothing as we walked by with no panic. for some reason.

we were walking from a party and jam at a local music school, where

a local singing legend taught

mostly vocals. we started the evening attending a class in the (i suck at

remembering foreign words) rhythms of an instrument like a tambourine,

and were schooled in patterns for songs and capoera. we stood in a circle

of mostly beautiful and handsome brazilian women. i, resplendant in

my sweaty tank top from walking earlier in the day, may have stood out a little.

but learn we did. i was masterful at it not.

then we went and had a frozen dish made from the acai berry, like a sorbet,

covered with fresh bananas and granola. what a treat, and not the first one of

the day.

then the jam session. in the open air center of the school, which was in a

big old house. we sang a few songs. beer and wine were served. bacon brushetta

was served….toast, cheese, bacon and oregeno. introductions were made.

one of the women there was obviously someone important, a backup singer

with a famous pop star, and as far as i could gather from the conversation,

was on a soap opera. she held herself like a star. if you`ve ever seen the show

“just shoot me“, she was just like nina van horne. regal, self assured.

our hostess sat down with her sister (friend? not sure) and they sang the most

hauntingly beautiful duet ever. so sweet and pure. then another woman and

a guitar joined them for a trio, again, hauntingly sweet and beautiful.

the evening turned raucous, with drums and dancing and exhuberant singing

and laughter. i danced a little, until

i was dripping with sweat (again). it was a kind of magical evening. i wished

i had known any of the words to the songs, but i plucked and sawed and

drummed my way through the evenings brigadoon-like magic.

a delicious bean and sausage soup and some meat struedel were served

and the drinks flowed. another one of those can´t believe i´m here evenings.

the rest of the day earlier seems to pale in comparison, yet it was all kind of

magical. we went to an ecological park. i had the water from a big

green coconut, with a straw, through the hole they punched. it seemed

like a magic drink, neverending. i drank and drank. finally done.

then they split it open, gave it to me with a spoon made from a piece

of the husk, and we peeled out the gelatinous meat from the non scrapy,

non flakey kind of coconut.

on the way out of the park, we stopped at a roadside fruit place, where a man

with a machete carved up giant hunks of sweet juicy pineapple, and we stood

eating, sticky sweet juice flowing and dripping. we left, and in yet another

of many lovely gestures this day, he came running out to the car as we were

leaving, with two big hunks of perfect firm and ripe watermelon, and handed

them to us. not sure watermelon or pineapple ever tasted that fine.

i can´t even get into the wonderful lunch we had, one of many stupendous and

inexpensive meals we had.

but after lunch i took a walk, looking for the grocery store. i climbed hills

and was a big sweaty mess (what else is new) when i asked a woman

on top of a hill where the grocery was. she spoke no english, but understood

what i was looking for and pointed down the street. i thanked her and walked

down the hill. a few moments later i heard a voice, and she was running

down the hill she had just climbed up, just to give me better directions.

she pointed down the hill. “one, two“ then pointed her finger sharply to

the right.

have i mentioned yet how nice eveyone is here in brazil?

and how delightful it is here? and how good the food and weather

are?

by the way, the weather is delightful.

biejos

stefan

Filed under: Brazil 2009, Notes from Steve, Uncategorized by Steve | June 4, 2009 | Comments (1)


1 Comment so far

  1. Steve on June 4, 2009 11:35 pm

    p.s. sorry about the formatting or lack thereof of the above post. unintentional.

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